Man who drove up to checkpoint near White House arrested for alleged false bomb threat

No bomb or other hazard was found in the man's car.

ByABC News
March 19, 2017, 3:19 PM

— -- A man arrested after driving up to a Secret Service checkpoint near the White House on Saturday night has been identified by police as Sean Patrick Keoughan, 29, of Roanoke, Virginia.

Keoughan was driving a car that had been reported stolen out of Roanoke, according to an incident report from the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, D.C.

The suspect allegedly late Saturday night pulled up to a vehicle-entry post near the White House in a 2017 Chevrolet Impala with an Indiana registration, according to the police report.

When he got out of the car, he told an officer, "There's a bomb in the trunk," the police report said. As the man was taken to the ground by an officer, he said, "This is a test."

No bomb or other hazard was found in the car, authorities said Sunday.

The suspect was arrested for alleged false bomb threats and unauthorized use of a vehicle, the police report said.

The Secret Service in its earlier statement said, "On March 18, 2017 at approximately 11:05 pm, an individual drove a vehicle up to a Secret Service checkpoint located at 15th Street and E Street NW."

"Upon contact with the individual, U.S. Secret Service Uniform Division Officers detained the individual and declared his vehicle suspicious," the statement said. "In accordance with proper protocols, Secret Service personnel increased their posture of readiness."

It was the second security-related incident near the White House on Saturday.

President Trump was not in the White House at the time of the incident. He and his family are at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida.

Earlier in the day, a man was detained after hopping over a bike-rack barrier along the north fence of the White House, sources familiar with the incident told ABC News.

The person did not make it over the White House fence, sources said. Sources said he wanted to deliver a letter to someone in the Trump administration.

The man was identified Sunday by police as William Bryant Rawlinson, 58, of Silver Spring, Maryland.

And on March 10, an intruder scaled a White House fence. The Secret Service said Friday that last week's intruder was on the grounds for approximately 16 minutes before he was arrested.

ABC News' Emily Shapiro contributed to this report.